When my parents were here in March we happened to head a little farther west than we normally do, and ended up having a late lunch in Manassas. When we parked there it was hard not to notice the particularly large sign across the street and wonder what its story was. It was notable enough that I took a picture.

So when I saw this story on the front page of the WashingtonPost.com I was curious to read the story behind it. It’s an interesting one – based on the message above I’d wondered if this wasn’t a religious organization, with their message of love and empathy. “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.” The sign has changed notably since March 9th – the WaPo story has a small shot of the presumably current sign, though it’s small and they provide no transcription.

Unfortunately WaPo writer Nick Miroff decided to do a little editorializing in the WaPo story, which summarizes the sign’s content thusly:

The sign’s text has changed a few times, but its message has essentially remained the same: Latino immigrants have been exploited by ungrateful, racist white residents who took advantage of their labor and now want them to leave.

Anyone see any assertions of racism or ingratitude in the sign above?  This is why you should report facts and not interpret them, Mr Miroff.

Transcriptions of old and new sign after the jump.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

The WaPo picture is hard to read but I’ve transcribed what I can as accurately as I can manage. If I made a mistake, I apologize. If I couldn’t tell what something was at all it’s got (??) marks. If I wasn’t sure of a word I put a (?) after it.

The sign as it was in March:

WE MUST BECOME THE CHANGE WE WISH TO SEE IN THE WORLD.
DARKNESS CANNOT DRIVE OUT DARKNESS; ONLY LIGHT CAN DO
THAT. HATE CANNOT DRIVE OUT HATE, ONLY LOVE CAN DO THAT.
SLAVERY IS POSSIBLE IN THE 21ST CENTURY WHERE EDUCATION
& OPPORTUNITY ARE DENIED TO THE LESS DFORTUNATE.
THE ULTIMATE TRAGEGY IS NOT THE OPPRESSION
AND CRUELTY BY THE BAD PEOPLE BUT THE
SILENCE OVER THAT BY THE GOOG PEOPLE.
THERE’S NO CHRISTMAS 4 IMMIGRANTS, WHEN THEIR
FAMILIES KEEP GETTING DIVIDED.

The sign pictured in the WaPo story:

PWC AND MANASSAS CITY THE NATIONAL CAPITAL OF INTOLERANCE
EUROPEAN AMERICAN EXTERMINATED MILLIONS OF NATIVE AMERICANS IN ORDER TO STEAL AMERICA THEY
WERE THE FIRST ILLEGAL ALIENS EUROPEAN AMERICANS HAVE A 500 YEAR HISTORY OF RAPE, THEFT, MURDER,
SLAVERY, ARTIFICIAL BORDERS JIM CROW LAWS AND DEPORATAIONS OF NATIVE AMERICANS
SINCE 1865(?) THE KKK RODE AT NIGHT TO TORTURE, LYNCH AND KILL BLACKS, NATIVE AMERICANS AND
OTHER PEOPLE OF COLOR. TODAY THE ACTIONS OF PWC AND MANASSAS CITY COUNCIL ARE SIMILAR TO
THE COLLABORATION BETWEEN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AND THE KKK IN THE 1900S
0N 2.25.08 MANASSAS CITY MAJOR DOUGLAS S. WALDRON SAID I AM PROUD THAT FINALLY WE CAME TO
AN AGREEMENT WITH PWC TO IMPLEMENT 287S BECAUSE WE CARE ABOUT THE COMMUNITY WHAT COM-
MUNITY?? 287 IS AN AGREEMENT WITH IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMES ENFORCEMENT TO DETAIN AND QUES
TION NATIVE AMERICANS BY POLICE OFFICERS AT THEIR DISCRETION
PWC AND MANASSAS CITY PERSECUTE US WITH OUR OWN TAX DOLLARS, BECAUS EUROPEAN AMERICANS WOULD
RATHER (????) A GHOST TOWN THAN LIVE AMOUNG NATIVE AMERICANS
THEY IGNORE OUR VOICES THEY IGNORE OUR CIVIL AND CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS THERE IS NO DEM-
OCRACY… STOP THE PERSECUTION WE DEMAND EQUALITY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL
WE WILL NOT BE YORU SLAVES OF THE 21ST CENTURY

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs